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Astronomy and astrophysics

Definition

Astronomy and astrophysics are the study of objects and phenomena that are found beyond our solar system. This combines theoretical simulations and observation with both terrestrial and space-craft-borne instruments of the electromagnetic radiation and high-energy particles emitted by celestial bodies.

Latest Research and Reviews

By assessing the ionization fraction of the environment around Tycho’s (type Ia) supernova, the authors have constrained the properties of its progenitor enough to rule out a hot, luminous white dwarf. A double white dwarf binary merger is allowed.

The material surrounding accreting supermassive black holes connects them with their hosts. From studies in the infrared and X-rays, the structure of this material is found to be complex, clumpy and dynamic.

Radio astronomy will be transformed by future surveys that will study tens of millions of radio sources, providing new insights into a broad range of open questions in astronomy. This transformation, and the lead-up to it, is summarized in this Review.

A candidate dual supermassive black hole system with a projected separation of 0.35 pc is found in the gas-rich interacting spiral galaxy NGC 7674, evidenced by a ∼0.7 kpc Z-shaped radio jet and two, possibly inverted-spectrum, compact radio cores.

The authors present a spectrophotometric and hydrodynamical study of supernova OGLE-2014-SN-073, which had remarkably high inferred ejecta mass and energy, potentially higher than can be explained with canonical core-collapse neutrino-driven explosions.

The polarization resulting from electron scattering in a stellar atmosphere has been detected towards the rapidly spinning star Regulus. Deformation of the star from spherical allows this effect to be seen, fulfilling a prediction from around 50 years ago.

Although predicted 50 years ago, the polarization of light from a rotationally distorted stellar atmosphere has only recently been detected, thanks to polarimetry measurements with precision at the parts-per-million level.